Change of Winds
by shining.star.rae
Summary: If anything had changed it would have had something to do with the wind. Miyuki was not supposed to be there. But she had been, she had lived, she had breathed. And so, she brought warm winds and changed how The Storm was made. Naruto grew up much the same, except not really, and that was The Change. So with The Storm and The Change- the world was unprepared.


**Here we are, first chapter of** ** _Change of Winds._**

 **Summary:** If anything had changed it would have had something to do with the wind. It was a bit warmer than in another life, or maybe it was a bit cooler, and it brought with it the Storm Season. Miyuki was not supposed to be there. But she had been, she had lived, she had breathed. And so, she brought warm winds and changed how The Storm was made. Naruto grew up the same, except not really, and that was The Change. So with The Storm and The Change- the world was left unprepared.

 _92 Years before the Kyubi Attack, The Land of Whirlpools, Uzushiogakure_

"Why must I wear a kimono?" Miyuki asked quietly, tugging on her green and blue outfit. The five year old had been rudely awoken by her big brother, Kaiyo, a handsome 15 year old with amber eyes and scarlet hair, jumping on her bed. Yua, her only older sister out of nine children total (what were the odds), had proceeded to come in and whack the back of his head, forcing him out of the room. After then ruffling through Miyuki's limited stack of clothes, Yua had proceeded to pull the kimono out, forcing it onto the sleepy and greatly confused girl.

"Because," Yua finally replied, pulling Miyuki's hair into two buns tied with brown decorated ribbons, "Shiryoku-sama has requested our family's presence."

"Oh…Who's Shiryoku? OW!"

"Sorry," Yua apologized for pulling the younger girls hair. "I keep forgetting how little you know."

The young dancer sighed. "Shiryoku-sama is the Head of the Clan. Surely you know our clan name, little blessing?"

Miyuki pouted at the nickname but nevertheless replied, "Uzumaki."

"Very good, for a second I though you wouldn't know that either." Yua finished tying the ribbon and stood. "There. All done. _Haha_ should be getting Yasuo up, everyone else is waiting by the door."

With that, Miyuki watched as her sister made a slow retreat from the room. _Yua is beautiful,_ the child thought. The older girl wore a green kimono with silver designs on it and a dark blue obi. Her long scarlet hair was tied back into one braid starting at her forehead, ending at the mid-back. Even though she was no shinobi, Yua walked with a special grace, appearing more mature than a 13 year old would normally. _Maybe I should be a dancer like Yua-nee._

Miyuki would learn later that day, that being a dancer (at least officially) would not be her calling. No, the five great gods of the world had something different in mind for Uzumaki Miyuki. Something that involved a newly forged sword, waiting patiently in halls of the Uzumaki's armory.

 _5 Years after the Kyubi Attack, Fire Nation, Konoha_

"What does being a shinobi mean to you, Naruto-kun?" One of his ANBU asked.

Cerulean blue eyes looked up and past the darkness of the mouse mask into pale green, face scrunching up in concentration. For once in his five years of living, the boy with whiskered birthmarks on his cheeks actually tried to form an answer instead of blurting the first thing that came to mind.

"It-it means being strong and sneaky."

"I see," Nezumi (her ANBU name) said, emotionless as ever. "Does being a shinobi mean you're a good person?"

"Hmm…sometimes."

"Only sometimes?"

"Well," he kicked one of the rocks near his feet, then clutched Nezumi's had tighter, "not everyone is good. Shinobi are only people, so some of them must be bad."

Nezumi steered them in the direction of the Academy, taking a hidden route that no civilians used. "Very wise, Naruto-kun… Shinobi kill others sometimes, does that make them all bad?"

Naruto frowned. "I don't think so. They kill to help and save others…right?"

"Not all of the time. Sometimes they like the satisfaction of stealing someone else's life. Other times, they kill to get money."

"That's scary."

"Indeed." A moment of pause. "You didn't answer my question."

"Maybe-no, a whole bunch of people _can't_ be bad."

"Can't they?"

"No." He looked unsure, "People say I'm bad, but I'm not. SO maybe some of the ninja we say are bad are good and some of the ninja we say are good… are bad."

"That's an idea."

"Why are you asking? Shouldn't you know?"

"Sometimes everything get jumbled inside my mind. You're a good reminder," she squeezed his hand for a second.

"Thank you."

The two continued on in silence, the wind hardly making any noise as it lifted up the ends of the loose white T-shirt that hung from Naruto's skinny form. None of the clothes he had fit on his form, they were all too big and frumpy looking. Passed onto him at the highest price by the civilians that looked down on the orphan, only seeing a demon child. One of the many reasons they whispered horrid things into their children's ears for bedtime stories, never giving a name, but making sure their children knew exactly who to stay away from.

Nezumi glanced down at the boy, thanking the five gods of her world that the Hokage had allowed the boy to live on his own. Naruto might be dressed poorly, but he was far better off without that _wretched_ woman-who dared call herself a benevolent caretaker of orphans-abuse him mentally _and_ physically every time he so much as frowned.

Nezumi nearly growled in her throat, wishing she could cut that woman's throat with one swipe of her kunai (or perhaps poison her tea). Unfortunately, the Hokage had made it very clear that killing a citizen of Konoha, no matter what the circumstances, would result in a severe punishment (death on some occasions) and that Naruto wouldn't even remember his orphanage years as time went by, no harm done. And it wasn't like the other children were being hurt, so the matron could keep her job.

 _Hokage-sama seems to be forgetting that there's a law over A) harming_ any _child, B) so much as raising a hand to hit the Kyubi container_ would _insure the person sentenced to death (much less hitting them repeatedly), and C) the memories of abuse_ never _went away,_ Nezumi though darkly. _I would know._

Forcing herself to calm down, the ANBU heard the shrieks of children playing somewhere up ahead. It would seem Naruto's second year of school would now begin. After this, his shinobi training would begin, and his ANBU would be gone.

Glancing once more around her, Nezumi forced herself to blend with the shadows, shivering at the feeling. It was a neat trick her Nara teammate had taught her before they went their separate ways, but it still felt unnatural, even after years of using it.. Most specialized Jounin knew of it, but very few used it. Nezumi was part of the even smaller group that was neither a specialized Jounin but knew how to pull it off.

If a civilian had been able to use the route, they hardly would have noticed the near total decked out in black ANBU who only wore a white face-mask with red markings and a white chest plate, with short brown hair in a ponytail. Their eyes would lie and say that there was only a little blonde boy seemingly holding onto thin air with one small hand…

Well, that and a hand holding onto a blue, patched up, bag full of Academy supplies…

The duo paused right before walking out between the buildings. The Academy built by the second Hokage in the short lived era of peace, appearing before them. One of the duo had paused seeing this was as far as she could go before heading home for the day, and the other because of nervousness.

"Don't forget to go straight home after school, Naruto-kun. You have lessons on reading and writing with Emi-san today."

"Hehe, okay, _Nezumi-san_ ," Naruto giggled behind his hand as green eyes rolled behind the mask.

"So childish...Don't disrupt class today." A hopeless wish.

"Don't _worry_ , Nezumi _,_ I brought my book on plants today." As if to prove his point, the blonde opened his blue patched up bag and pulled out a small, new book.

"…"

"Eh, Nezumi-san? Are you okay?"

"-I think I just died of happiness."

Naruto sweat-dropped as he watched his normally emotionless ANBU guard swoon over him.

"I'm just gonna head to class now. See you later, Nezumi-san!" The boy, forgetting all about his nervousness in the weird situation, ran off into the school just as several other students arrived, stopping in shock of seeing the loud mouthed boy entering the Academy before them.

Mouse stopped her swooning and stared after him, becoming one with the shadows once more. Just as another arrived.

"Report," the arrival said.

"Reporting on Uzumaki Naruto, Jinjuriki of the Kyubi no Kitsune. Uzumaki-san appeared to sleep soundly through the night. No movement of unusual behavior from him or…others. Civilians kept away from him as per usual. For breakfast all he had was ramen and spoilt milk. Other than the food, all was well, including the way here. But, Inu-"the woman paused, trying to keep her emotions in check.

"Yes?"

Ah, screw it.

"You should have seen it! He packed his little books in his bag all by himself and even added his book on plants! He might as well have said that he was going to read it instead of disrupting class. I'm so proud, Inu! Our little boy, all growing up and becoming responsible."

Inu blinked once then twice. That was not what he was expecting.

"You're tired. Go home, Nezumi."

"You don't believe me," she cried out, completely disregarding what being in ANBU meant. "You'll see, Inu-san. He'll be reading and ignoring class like a good little boy."

"…Right."

Inu disappeared somewhere inside the Academy, as Nezumi pouted before jumping house to house, reaching her apartment just as the town really began to wake up. Stripping from her clothes, the shadows seemed to slip off her-as easily as if they had been a cloak.

 _92 years ago, The Land of Whirlpools, Uzushiogakure_

Miyuki clung to her father's larger hand, hiding her face in his cloak. Her ears picking up a soft giggle from the seats in front of her and the disappointed sighs from her sister and father.

The family of eleven stood before the Lord, Lady and Princess of Uzushiogakure. But Miyuki had yet to see them, having hid her face before they had even entered the door. Introductions were made in which Miyuki was forced to let go of her father's arm and bow before the Uzukage. When she rose, she immediately hid her blushing face into the loose fabric of her father's sleeve. A deep chuckle came from someone facing them, but no other words of scolding chased after her.

After a few minutes, the girl (feeling a little more confident) decided to get a feel for her surroundings. Which, unfortunately, meant pulling her face away from her father's arm. Ignoring the talking and formalities from everyone else, Miyuki slowly turned to look at the room, firmly refusing to glance at the nobles until last.

Miyuki's main rule in life was to look up, the most surprising things came always came from that direction. So when Miyuki looked up at the ceiling, she saw long stretches of wood turned and twisted, coming together to leave small squares shaped holes, that-when Miyuki squinted-led to another area of wood in the same structure. Yet somehow, the light of the sun did not come through the roof, as one would think, but from the tall, wide windows on either wall, giving warmth to the room. Amber eyes curiously noted the long, tan curtains that hung from where two wooden beams connected, pulled over to opposing walls. Moving her gaze, Miyuki took in at least three shadows on the ground that came from the rafters.

The room as a whole, was wide, not overly tall, and felt…homey. Despite the lack of décor and color. Although, the pillows everyone knelt on more than made up for color. There were greens and red and-of all things- _orange._ Miyuki herself knelt on a red, _thank kami_.

Now though, the little girl decided to look at the leaders of Uzu.

Shiryoku-sama was the one she noticed first, mainly because he was the only man other than her father (her seven brothers didn't count, they were only boys) in the room. The man had red hair like all Uzumaki's but there were strips of gray in his short beard. His formal outfit was a mixture of red and gold, blending together to create a beautiful image. Not that Miyuki could tell what it was, it seemed to keep moving. His tan face had wrinkle lines around the eyes. _He must smile a lot_ , she thought, before noticing his eyes.

They were a clouded over violet. Though they seemed to work as normal eyes, glancing at whoever was speaking. (It was Tsuki, but Miyuki couldn't fathom why Tsuki would be talking. From what she half heard, he was apologizing for not being able to do something.) But Miyuki wasn't fooled by Shiryoku-sama, she knew he was incapable of seeing anything.

Giving him one last look up and down, Miyuki shifted her head, turning to look at the woman to Shiryoku-sama's right. The lady was pretty and seemed to smile at what Recca was now saying. Her long long hair-tied in two pony-tails- rested on the area around her legs where she sat on her knees. Two golden ribbons tying each ponytail, and then traveling-crossing over and over each other-the length of it to tie once again at the ends. Her red dress fitted her upper body tightly and came up to form a collar of gold around her neck.

Lastly, Miyuki turned to where the other person was supposed to be sitting. A little girl only a year older than herself, or so Yua said. Perhaps Yua-nee had thought was wrong, because it looked as though no one was sitting on the green pillow at all.

Feeling a tug on the edge of her sleeve, Miyuki froze, amber eyes wide, and slowly turned her head. Only to see a bun headed girl with a shy smile on her face.

"Do you wanna see my tree," she whispered.

Miyuki blinked. "Your tree?"

"Uh hu. I planted it myself and brought it back to life. Wanna see it?"

The younger girl glanced at her family, biting her lip. Yasuo seemed to be the only one to notice them, but he was too busy gaping at the other girl to say anything.

"Okay."

Mito grabbed her hand, pulling Miyuki onto her feet. Miyuki was so surprised she could do little more than gasp; her fingers slipping through her father's hold. Together, the girls ran quickly to a door Miyuki hadn't noticed. The action (and noise of Miyuki's surprised gasp) drew the attention of everyone else. Shiryoku-sama seemed to smile, nodding his head approvingly.

"Miyuki! Get back here right now, you wretched little girl!"

Whoa, mother was angry. Miyuki had never heard that tone of voice before, but it automatically made her slow down. Only for her to speed back up as Mito tugged her hand harder.

"Come on, Miyu-chan! Run, run!"

Mito turned her head just the slightest bit, just enough so that the younger girl saw a blinding grin on the others face. It automatically made her grin as well, the widest she had ever given.

Violet met amber, and for the two girls, the world was set into motion.


End file.
